The Newt Gingrich who’s likely running for president in 2012 isn’t quite the same Newt Gingrich who led congressional Republicans out of a long political wilderness in 1994. This Gingrich, who announced he's officially testing the presidential waters today, is unfiltered and combative in a way he never was before, even at the height of his most partisan battles with the Clinton White House.

But 16 years after riding one Republican wave to power, Gingrich clearly hopes the latest GOP wave hasn’t crested, and will prove large enough to propel him to the White House.

Key strengths
Gingrich lacks for nothing when it comes to name recognition and fundraising prowess. He remains one of the most well known Republicans in the country. And through his nonprofit group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, he’s outpaced many of his rivals in the money race (that money can’t be used for a presidential bid, but nonetheless helps boost his public profile).

He’s never yielded his role as the GOP’s ideas man, with an intellect that garners respect from people in both parties—even if his ideas are often unfocused.

And his criticisms of President Barack Obama have been among the most vitriolic by any Republican, something that could curry favor with the most conservative voters in early states like Iowa and South Carolina.

Key weaknesses
As many insiders put it, Gingrich has an Esquire problem.

A profile in the magazine last year featured Gingrich’s second of three wives dishing loads of dirt, including that his first wife was served by divorce papers while she was still in the hospital recovering from cancer. The multiple marriages—and the fact that Gingrich was having an affair while leading the charge to impeach President Bill Clinton over his relationship with Monica Lewinsky—has left social conservatives wary. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) recently said Gingrich “doesn't know anything about commitment to marriage.”

Gingrich’s bombastic style can rally the base, but it can just as easily make even Republicans wince when he crosses rhetorical lines.

And Gingrich has long since spent any political currency he earned from leading Republicans back to power in 1994, making him hardly the establishment’s first choice.

X-Factor
Money.

Gingrich has raised a lot of it, but the vast majority has come through his nonprofit. If Gingrich can find crafty ways to use that money to help him politically, he’s got as much of a financial advantage as anyone in the field.

But if he can’t, he’s starting millions of dollars in the hole, and will need to seriously and quickly step up his fundraising.